Ask a Scientist

Our monthly ‘Ask a Scientist’ column answers questions that come from UCS members and supporters.

September 14, 2023

Ask a Scientist: It’s Getting Easier for US Car Owners to Go Electric

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Pigs crowded into a CAFO

Mark Stebnicki/Pexels

August 10, 2023

Ask a Scientist: Will the New Farm Bill Transform the US Food System?

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

August 10, 2023

How Will EPA’s Proposed Power Plant Carbon Rule Impact Public Health?

Brady Watson
Senior Campaign Coordinator

Photo of Oppenheimer in a fedora and suit

NBC News Studios

July 13, 2023

Ask a Scientist: Scientists and Arms Control from Oppenheimer to Today

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Olivier Lantzendorffer/iStock.com

June 14, 2023

Ask a Scientist: Top Takeaways from the New EPA Carbon Pollution Rules

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Sienna Falzetta/BLM

May 16, 2023

Ask a Scientist: Calling Out the Companies Responsible for Western Wildfires

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Dennis Schroeder/NREL

April 13, 2023

Ask a Scientist: The Electric Car and Power Grid’s Shared Future

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Dennis Schroeder/NREL

March 14, 2023

Ask a Scientist: New UCS Federal Scientist Survey Shows Real Progress

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Satelite view of the Livanova commercial sterilizer in Arvada, CO

Esri/OpenStreetMap

February 9, 2023

Ask a Scientist: EPA Failing to Protect Communities from Cancer-Causing Gas

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Wikimedia Commons/ The Council of the Federation of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation

January 12, 2023

Ask a Scientist: Confronting Putin’s Nuclear Threat

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Phoebe Plummer and Anna Holland from Just Stop Oil addressing the public after throwing tomato soup on Vincent van Gogh’s Vase with Fifteen Sunflowers (1888).

Video still by @damiengayle

December 8, 2022

Ask a Scientist: In Moments of Despair, Climate Progress Can Keep Hope Alive

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Dave Center/Flickr

October 12, 2022

Ask a Scientist: What’s Up With the Attack on ESG Investing?

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Michael Fleshman/Flickr

September 8, 2022

Ask a Scientist: How to Thwart Threats to Democracy

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

AP Photo/David Goldman

August 10, 2022

Ask a Scientist: ‘Danger Season’ Summers Disproportionately Harm Disadvantaged Communities

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

A view under the hood of a 2017 Chevrolet Volt

July 13, 2022

Ask a Scientist: In Search of a ‘Green’ Electric Car Battery

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Highlighted definition of disinformation from a a dictionary page

Shutterstock/Casimiro PT

June 8, 2022

Ask a Scientist: How to Disarm Disinformation

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Source: Marcia Cassidy Communications

May 12, 2022

Ask a Scientist: Two Dozen States Can Meet 100 Percent of Electricity Demand with Renewables by 2035

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Aerial view of a tractor towing an applicator is spraying liquid nitrogen fertilizer on a late Spring corn field. The left field and behind the spreader is wet with darker soil. Shot from the open window of a small plane.

BanksPhotos/iStock

April 13, 2022

Ask a Scientist: Taking a Holistic Look at Big Ag

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

HarshLight/Flickr

February 10, 2022

Ask a Scientist: Assessing the Biden Administration’s Progress in Its First Year

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Lou Oates/iStock

January 12, 2022

Ask a Scientist: Will the Biden Nuclear Policy Wind Up Being the Same Old Same Old?

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Electric vehicles at EVgo charging stations

EVgo Network/flickr

December 8, 2021

Ask a Scientist: How to Get a Charge out of Your EV

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Ortal Ullman/UCS

November 10, 2021

Ask a Scientist: While Nations Dither, US Cities, Counties and States Are Suing Fossil Fuel Companies

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Olivier Lantzendorffer/iStock.com

October 7, 2021

Ask a Scientist: Will Congress Finally Tackle the Climate Crisis?

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

Lance Cheung/USDA

September 15, 2021

Ask a Scientist: Tyson’s Near Monopoly is Bad for Workers, Farmers and Communities

Elliott Negin
Former Contributor

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